September 2013

September 30, 2013

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ore. -- Douglas County Search & Rescue crews headed out Monday to try to help a stranded California couple.

Charles Edward Garton, 73, of Ridgecrest, California, called to report that he was stuck on a logging road behind fallen trees at about 8:30 pm Saturday.

Garton and his wife were traveling from California to Coos Bay in a 23 foot motor home pulling a utility trailer with a golf cart.

Garton was following a route selected by his GPS unit, which led him off of I-5 at the Glendale Exit and then down several BLM Roads heading northwest towards Hwy 42.

The Sheriff's office says Garton caused damage to his motor home while on the unimproved roads and eventually became stuck in the mud.

Sheriff's deputies responded and found the couple on Sunday at about 11 am. Deputies cleared trees from the road, but due to the conditions of the roadway they were unable to get the motor home unstuck.

Roseburg Towing also responded and were unable to remove the motor home from the location. The Sheriff's office say the couple were offered a ride to town, but refused to leave their motor home. At 11:30 am on Monday, search and rescue crews with 4X4s headed out to see if they could assist.

Officials at the scene were able to get the motorhome back on the road and rolling.

Officials say this serves as a good reminder that a GPS isn't a perfect tool to rely on to get you safely where you are going. They also say to make sure you are prepared in case you do become lost or stranded.

This is a developing story, and a KPIC reporter is going with the search and rescue team. Watch your local TV news and this website for more throughout the day.

A late-morning rock slide on a Colorado trail trapped five hikers under a pile of rocks and caused a teenage girl to be flown to a local hospital with injuries, authorities said.

At around 11 a.m. local time (1 p.m. EDT) , police received a call about a rock slide on an easy hiking trail to Agnes Vaille in Pike and San Isabel National Forest, a two-and-a-half hour drive south of Denver. Rescue crews have been on the scene since.

As of 6 p.m., five people were still trapped, said Monica Broaddus, a spokeswoman for Caffee County Sheriff’s Department. A 13-year-old girl was airlifted on a "fight for life" to the Children's Hospital earlier Monday afternoon.

The names and ages of the other victims have not been released.

In May, a rock slide closed part of Interstate 70 in western Colorado when a boulder that was almost 10 feet in width tumbled across the highway, according Amy Ford of the Colorado Department of Transportation.

“Rockfalls, sadly, are something that are common in mountain areas,” Ford said, adding that the excessive rain due to the catastrophic flood earlier this month increases the likelihood of rock slides.

Jesse Jakomait, from Ontario , Canada , is a mechanical engineer with SRAM Corporation , a mountain bike training component manufacturer. Alicia Jakomait, originally from Constantine , Mich., is a social worker, her husband said.

"Being outside and being on my bike with happy people is the best way to spend a day, for me anyhow," she wrote on her profile page on www.pinkbike.com , a website for mountain biking and competitive riding enthusiasts.

Hun Meas, a 31-year-old man from Salem, got separated from three other pickers at about 5 p.m. Saturday. Less than an hour and a half later, authorities received a call that another Salem resident, 56-year-old Deena Maria Scalia, had become separated from a different group less than a mile from where Meas' group had been picking mushrooms.

Neither Meas nor Scalia had extra clothing or food with them, and stormy weather conditions combined with the encroaching darkness made searching difficult, according to the sheriff's office. Scalia's family aided in the search and at one point thought they heard her crying for help, but were unable to pinpoint the origin of the windblown sound.

Six vehicles from the Marion County Jeep Patrol searched forest roads through the night. Rescuers found Scalia hunkered under a tree just before midnight. She had taken shelter to wait out the weather and darkness. Authorities report that she was unharmed, though she had become quite cold and wet.

Search & Rescue teams from Marion and Linn counties picked up the search at dawn on Sunday. About 40 searchers combed the forest to help find Meas, who was located at about 10:30 a.m. along Forest Road 510. He, too, had hunkered down under a tree until morning.

"These searches are perfect examples of how easy it is for someone to become lost when distracted while picking mushrooms," according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities noted that hikers and pickers alike should stay in groups and pack extra food, water and shelter supplies.

The remains of missing Lake Havasu City man, 42-year-old David M. Turner, were discovered Wednesday south of SARA Park. Turner originally was reported missing to Lake Havasu City police in mid-July.

Mohave County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sandy Edwards said Sunday a hiker discovered some of Turner’s personal items such as a wallet containing identification and little bit of cash and a backpack at about 10:20 a.m. Wednesday. The hiker contacted authorities who then investigated the area.

MCSO Search and Rescue volunteers responded to the area. The search and rescue volunteers soon called in the help of Arizona Department of Public Safety’s Ranger helicopter. An observer aboard the helicopter spotted Turner’s remains at about 3:53 p.m. A search and rescue volunteer was repelled from the helicopter to retrieve Turner.

“It was rough terrain,” Edwards said. “(Rescue volunteers) couldn’t get in to the area on foot.”

Edwards described Turner’s location as about a half mile from State Route 95 but in the vicinity of the area known as SARA Park.

“It’s unknown how long he had been there,” she said. “We are waiting for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.” The advanced state of the body’s decomposition prevented authorities from determining the time of death. A family member identified the wallet, she said.

Edwards wouldn’t speculate on if circumstances surrounding Turner’s death hinged on foul play.

According to earlier reports, Turner was reported missing by his father July 8 after leaving home on July 3 on a red-colored bicycle to get a pack of cigarettes and never returning.

COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - The Red River Gorge can be a beautiful place, but for one climber this weekend it became a dangerous one, as well.

"Yeah, very scary, very lucky. There were some rocks and tree roots at the bottom of the route he was climbing," started John May of the Wolfe County Search and Rescue squad.

The climber, whose name wasn't released, was seen climbing an area known as "Pistol Ridge," and it's reported that he was doing it on a rock face without any bolted anchors. Instead rescuers say the man was using a temporary anchor in the crack of the rock, and that's when they say things went wrong.

"It just pulled loose," described May, "It kind of appeared that he may have been not that experienced with what he was doing, because it was kind of sketchy what he did there."

"Oh yeah, 20 feet, ten feet depending on how you land, can be a fatal fall. So this gentleman is very fortunate," explained May.

The rescue effort wasn't very easy, either. May said his team joined in with teams from Powell County and Menifee County to get to the injured man. May said it took them nearly four hours to get down and back on the tricky trails.

"This subject was located on a mountain top, it was probably a mile to a mile-and-a-half up the ridge. (It is) A very narrow trail, very rocky," he said.

In order to get everyone safely out, the crews had to work their way along the cliff using ropes for safety and a basket to get the climber out.

"We had approximately 24 people involved with the rescue and it took every single one of them just to get this gentlemen out," answered May, who said this was a serious fall but with miraculous ending.

He went on to say that the climber did not appear to have life threatening injuries and was even alert and oriented when crews got to his side.

"It's just amazing what the body can stand!" reacted May.

The man was taken by ambulance for treatment, but May was unaware of what hospital he was taken to.

Craters of the Moon, Idaho ( KIDK / KIFI ) A rescue mission became a recovery mission Sunday. On Saturday, there were 70 searchers, today just 20. The big reason is weather.

Dr. JoDean Elliott Blakeslee is still missing at Craters of the Moon National Monument where searchers no longer think she's alive."Given we've had a range of conditions. Everything from snow to rain to high wind. It really decreases the likelihood that she may still be alive."Lori Iverson says the collective decision on JoDean Elliott Blakeslee's status was made today.

"That's a difficult thing to face, it's difficult for searchers and it's certainly difficult for the family," explains Iverson, US Fish and Wildlife Services.Wind gusts up to 65 miles–per–hour kept helicopters grounded and search dogs limited in today's efforts, but the search is far from over.

Iverson says,"each group that goes out, whether it's a dog team or a ground crew, are given a GPS unit to take out."Searchers carry GPS units to eliminate covering areas already searched.

"It also marks and clues that have been found. Any footprints, any flagging, any item that people find on the ground, and then those clues are also downloaded into the program," adds Iverson.

It's Craters of the Moon's many caves that are proving difficult.She adds, "it's not just above ground that's complicated and you can get turned around in, it's below ground as well.

Gerald Dillman is with the caving organization Silver Sage Grotto. He says it would be easy to get lost in the caves, so he's been covering a lot of ground, underground.Dillman explains, "I went through a whole set of knee pads yesterday alone. Elbow pads, it chews up. I wore a set of gloves, it wore the fingertips out of my gloves. It's just very sharp, it's very unforgiving."

The search and rescue team is anticipating these conditions to continue through Tuesday, so no word on when they'll get the helicopters back up again.

The search for Jo Elliott–Blakeslee and Amy Linkert began Tuesday.Linkert's body was found Wednesday, but originally misidentified as Blakeslee's.

NEWELL - A man and woman kissed before jumping together off the railing of the Newell Bridge into the Ohio River on Sunday evening, according to a witness.

Brittany Riddle of East Liverpool was driving across the bridge towards Newell at approximately 6:30 p.m. when she saw a couple on the walkway to her right. Approaching the traffic light on the other side, traffic slowed to a stop. While stationary, Riddle says she looked down to adjust her car radio and was stunned by what happened next.

"I looked up and saw the couple," she said. "They kissed each other, climbed up there [on the rail] and jumped."

The Chester and Newell volunteer fire departments deployed rescue boats in the search for a man and woman who jumped off the Newell Bridge together into the waters of the Ohio River on Sunday evening. (Photo by Richard Sberna)

Deeply shocked by what she had just witnessed, Riddle says she drove to her aunt's house a short distance down state Route 2 and called her mother. "I just started freaking out," she said. "I didn't really know what to do." Her mother, in turn, called 9-1-1 and met her at the scene while she was being interviewed by officers from the Hancock County Sheriff's Department.

Sgt. Brian Swan of the sheriff's department gave a description of the pair, who still had not been found as of early Sunday night. The man was a middle-aged white male, heavy-set with a gray beard, wearing jeans, a black sleeveless T-shirt and a bandanna. The woman was a thin white female with bleached-blonde hair and visible tattoos, also wearing jeans and a black cutoff T-shirt.

The couple jumped closer to the West Virginia side of the bridge, where the search was concentrated. Rescue boats from Newell and Chester volunteer fire departments continued scanning the water as the sun went down. Swan said that as time passed, it was more likely that the operation would shift from a rescue to a recovery effort.

WESTCLIFFE - Officials in Custer and Saguache counties said they suspended their search Sunday for a missing hiker in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near here.

Mark Stice of Arvada was reported overdue by his wife Sept. 22 after failing to return from a hiking trip that began five days earlier. He was due home no later than Sept. 21.

Stice's vehicle was parked at the South Colony trailhead, and his campsite was found Sept. 24. He did not sign any trail or summit registers and did not have a cellphone or emergency beacon, officials said.

Stice had hiked 13 of Colorado's 54 fourteeners in the previous 18 months. He hiked Humboldt Peak in May and Longs Peak in early September. But officials believed he would not have been adequately prepared for the rapidly changing weather conditions. Over eight days, searchers encountered snowfall on difficult terrain, ice and falling rock and ice.

Stice had hiked up Humboldt Peak this year, but officials believe he was unaware of the technical challenges he might encounter on more difficult peaks. He also was reported to descend off route frequently.

He left no itinerary with family, friends or co-workers.

Volunteer search-and-rescue teams from Saguache, Custer, Fremont and Douglas counties, Vail Mountain Rescue and Western State participated in the search. The Colorado Search and Rescue Board provided two helicopters from the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training division from Gypsum.

Aquick-thinking deputy from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department rescued an 88-year-old woman Saturday night from her burning south Medford home.

"He saved my life and my three dogs," Margret Schwartz said. "All of a sudden, he knocked my door down and came in. He said, " 'Your house is on fire — let's get out of here.' "

The call made by sheriff deputy Brendan Dodge came in at 10:44 p.m. to Medford fire. Three engines from Medford fire responded along with one engine from Fire District No. 5.

Schwartz said she was able to salvage some of her belongings, but fire crews boarded the house up to prevent anyone from entering.

After Dodge got her out of her bedroom, Schwartz said she went into the dining room still half asleep.

"There was so much smoke in that room that I thought there was a glaze over my eyes," she said. "I told the deputy that I've got to put my shoes on before I leave the house."

Once outside, Schwartz was shivering in the cold night air, and the deputy put his jacket over her to keep her warm.

Schwartz said she didn't suffer any injuries, nor did her dogs — Corky, Peanut and Barkly — whose barking failed to rouse her from her sleep. Schwartz said she was happy to see her flowers and other plants didn't appear to be damaged by the fire. A herd of four deer that Schwartz said were born on the property lounged contentedly in the backyard.

She said she has insurance on the house that she has lived in since 1953. The house was built from material salvaged from Camp White in Sams Valley.

Brian Fish, battalion chief for Medford fire, said the fire started near the garage and was burning in the attic area. He said the sheriff deputy was driving by the house when he saw the fire. He started banging on the front door trying to determine if anyone was inside, Fish said. After receiving no response, the deputy broke open the door and went inside.

The cause of the fire and damage estimates will require further investigation. The house didn't have working smoke detectors, Fish said.

By the time fire crews arrived a hole had burned through the roof above the garage. Smoke was pouring out of eve vents. Fish said gusty winds helped fan the flames. Despite the damage, the house appears relatively unscathed from the street except for a tarp thrown over the hole in the roof.

Fish said part of the roof will have to be replaced along with some supports. Schwartz said her family has been very supportive, and she is living with her son, Keith Schwartz.

"I was born in that house," her son said.

Coincidentally, his own house in another part of Medford also sustained some damage from a fire that started on his neighbor's property about two weeks ago. Despite their ordeals recently, mother and son appeared to take the fire in stride.

Hiker Hell"This blog is about learning from other people's mistakes, so you don't make the same ones."
Many stories of how people on hikes got into trouble- the kind of trouble that leads to searches or recoveries.